Game of Life
by MalllladeImaginaire
Summary: Macavity has abducted Electra. Tumblebrutus if forced to play Macavity's sick game to try and win her back. The rules are simple: he wins, Electra goes free; he loses, Electra dies... xx (This used to be on my old account, but I've re-posted it on this one ;) )
1. The Beginning

Tumblebrutus and Electra were sat in a small alley, not far from the Junkyard. It was still very early morning and a thick fog filled the narrow street, obscuring most of their surroundings from view. They were waiting. Tumblebrutus had promised to take Electra and her sister Etcetera hunting, but as usual Etcetera was late.

Electra shivered. "I wish Etcy'd hurry up! I'm cold!", she said, "and she promised she wouldn't be late this time! I don't know why we bother taking her." And she shivered again.

Throwing his friend a quick glance, Tumblebrutus edged closer to her until he was snuggled up against her. "Is that better? I'm sure she'll be here soon. She isn't usually this late." He looked around, trying to see through the dense fog. "She's probably right behind us and we just can't see her in this stuff," he pointed out.

"You're probably right. I just wish she would just try and get up on time. We could have finished hunting and be back home in the warm by now!", Electra answered, "if she's not here in the next five minutes can we just go without her? I'm sick of waiting."

Tumblebrutus considered this proposal. The idea of spending time alone with Electra was definitely tempting, but it wasn't very fair on Etcetera and they _had_ already been waiting for over an hour, if they just went without her now they would have been wasting their time. But then again, he thought, if they didn't get a move on most of the mice and rats would already be hidden away nice and safe in their holes and the whole trip would be pointless. And he _would_ get to spend an hour on his own with Electra, without anyone else interrupting. It was too good an opportunity to miss. "Ok, then," he agreed, "if Etcy's not here in five minutes we set off without her."

The pair sat waiting in silence. After a couple of minutes, Electra said: "I don't think she's coming. Knowing her, she's probably forgotten all about us and is busy doing something else or is still in bed or something. Can we go now, before I actually freeze?" She grinned slightly at the young tom next to her. "Please."

With a nod, Tumblebrutus got to his feet and stretched. "You're probably right. Let's get going. I know a really good spot for hunting fat, juicy rats or if you prefer we can stick around here and look for mice," he said, grinning back at Electra.

She shrugged. "I don't really mind, as long as we're doing something." She thought about it for a second. "Rats, I think. The walk would at least warm us up a bit."

"Rats it is then," Tumblebrutus laughed, "this way." He turned away from the Junkyard and was about to set off, when he caught sight a a dark, shadowy figure moving towards them from out of the fog. Tumblebrutus stopped again and grinned. "Etcy! You're always late! Next time we really won't take you with us. We almost went without you!"

Electra giggled and bounded towards the figure. "I did tell you to get up on time. I'm really cold thanks to you and we've probably missed all the best rats! We've been waiting for over an hour, where on earth have you been?", she called out, pretending to be cross with her little sister. She was actually quite glad Etcetera had made it after all. She would have felt horrible about leaving her behind, even though it had been her idea.

In no time the young queen had covered the distance between herself and her sister. "You are completely...", the words died on her lips. She could see the figure clearly, now she was up close and it wasn't Etcetera. Electra screamed.


	2. Call the Stakes, Deal Me In

Tumblebrutus whipped round. Somewhere in the fog Electra screamed a second time. "Electra? Where are you? Are you alright?", he called out. There was no answer. "Electra? What's happened? Are you hurt?", Tumblebrutus yelled again, a note of panic creeping into his voice this time. Still no reply.

He set off at a run, heading back the way he had seen his friend go. Something had happened to her and it was clearly bad if she couldn't even answer him. Tumblebrutus fought to control the rising panic. He was supposed to be looking after her. If anything had happened, if Electra was hurt... It didn't bear thinking about.

"If you know what's good for you," a silky voice hissed, cutting through the fog and chilling Tumblebrutus to the bone, "you'll stay where you are."

The young tom stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes straining to make out where the voice was coming from. He knew that voice. Everyone in London knew that voice. "Macavity!", Tumblebrutus croaked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Just ahead of him a dark shape moved in the fog. It came slowly closer, until it was stood under a street lamp being illuminated by the soft, yellow light.

Tumblebrutus gasped and felt himself shudder in horror. In front of him stood a tall, ginger tom with a very long, matted coat and terrifyingly long claws. A smirk was playing about his lips and his eyes were glinting dangerously. In his grasp he held Electra, who was whimpering with pain and fear. One of his claws was pressed to her throat, cutting into the skin slightly.

"Please," Tumblebrutus whispered. He seemed to have lost the ability to form coherent sentences. His mouth was dry and he could hardly swallow. The sight of Electra trapped in Macavity's grasp made him feel physically sick. "Please don't hurt her."

At that the ginger tom laughed. His laughter echoed round the empty alley, sounding like a thousand claws being scraped over a thousand blackboards. The mirth never reached his cold eyes, that were fixed on Tumblebrutus with a calculating expression, however. They stayed as cold and hard as flints, glittering in the light from the street lamp.

"How touching", Macavity sneered, "you're worried about your little queen friend. Quite right, too. It's not safe for kittens to be wandering the streets at this time and it would be _tragic_ if something were to," he paused and his face twisted into a grin, revealing lethal-looking teeth, "happen to her."

"No!", Tumblebrutus choked, "you wouldn't!"

Macavity let out another laugh. His claws dug deeper into Electra's neck, breaking the skin. Blood began to flow, slicking down her fur. Electra whimpered and began to cry. "P-please don't h-hurt me!", she managed to sob, her voice quivering with terror.

With sudden brutality, Macavity wrenched her head back painfully, using his free paw to smack Electra across the face. The kitten let out a squeal of pain as her lip split open and her nose began to ooze blood. "When I want your input, _kitten, _I'll ask for it. Now keep your mouth shut," the large tom hissed, "it's not you I want to talk to." His red eyes flicked slowly up to focus on Tumblebrutus's face. "I have a proposal for you, Tumblebrutus."

The young tom trembled, unable to tear his eyes away from the trail of blood running down Electra's face. She had been hurt and it was all his fault. If he had looked after her properly this would never have happened. Now Electra was suffering because of him.

Macavity let out a low snarl. "Looks like someone needs to teach you some manners. When I speak to you I expect you to answer me, is that clear? Maybe this little _lesson_ will help you to remember that very simple concept." He grabbed Electra by the scruff of the neck and smashed her into the lamppost next to him.

As she hit the hard metal Electra let out a choking gasp, the air being driven out of her lungs by the force of the impact. A white-hot pain exploded in her left side and Electra screamed. Blood was running down her forehead from where she had hit it on the metal post and her side was agonisingly painful, making Electra fairly certain that she had broken at least one rib, if not several. She let out a dull moan as Macavity pulled her back over to him.

Tumblebrutus leapt towards his friend. "Electra!", he yelled, his voice shaking with fury and fear at the same time. A ferocious look from Macavity brought him to an abrupt halt.

"Now, maybe I've got your full attention," Macavity growled, "as I was saying, I have an idea you may find," he paused and looked down at Electra, running his paws through her blood-soaked fur, before looking back up into Tumblebrutus's eyes, "interesting."

"Interesting?", the young tom manged to ask. He had a vague thought, that if he could keep Macavity talking, maybe he could think of a way of rescuing his friend. At any rate, he was certainly not going to risk making him angry again by not answering. Tumblebrutus trembled at the memory of what had happened a minute ago when he had failed to respond in time. He couldn't risk that happening again, not to Electra.

"Life can be so tedious, don't you think," the ginger tom yawned, still stroking Electra's fur. She tried to flinch away from him but was yanked back by an ear. "Stay still, kitten," Macavity snarled, "move again and you'll have a lot more to worry about than a few broken ribs, understand!?" Electra nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Good girl," smirked Macavity, as he resumed playing with her fur. Electra shuddered.

He continued: "Sometimes I find I just need to come up with little distractions to keep myself entertained. At the moment I have nothing to do, so I thought I might think up a little _game_ for us to play, Tumblebrutus. I hope you don't mind." An evil grin crossed his face.

"A game? What sort of game?", Tumblebrutus asked. He didn't like the sound of this at all and really didn't want to find out what Macavity's idea of a game was. He had a feeling that it wouldn't be anything pleasant. '_I'm scared! What do I do?_ _If only I could get him to let Electra go', _he thought, '_maybe I'd stand a chance of getting away from him. But I can't risk him hurting her. What do I do? I wish Munkustrap was here. He'd know...'_

"It's perfectly straightforward," Macavity explained in an almost conversational tone, "I have your little friend here," he dug his claws into Electra's neck, who let out another cry of pain. Tumblebrutus flinched. "If you want her back you will have play for her. If you win my little game you get Electra back, if you lose she dies. Sound fair?" He smirked at the young tom, who looked like he was about to pass out. "What's your answer, Tumblebrutus? You know I don't like to be kept waiting." He raised his paw threateningly.

"Do I have a choice? What if I don't want to play, will you let us go?", Tumblebrutus stumbled over his words in his haste to answer.

Macavity sneered at him: "Let you go?" His lips curled back in a snarl revealing glittering fangs. "Let you go? What do you take me for? Of course I won't let you go." Anger filled the ginger tom's eyes. He suddenly seemed even larger and more menacing than before. Electra whimpered and Tumblebrutus shrank back a few paces. Macavity raised his claws as if to slash them across Electra's face, an insane grin playing about his lips. Suddenly he stopped, lowering his paw and his voice became soft and silky again. "But of course you have a choice, my friend. You don't _have_ to play. I wouldn't want to force you to do something you didn't want to do! Just say the word and you're free to go. I promise you won't be harmed."

Tumblebrutus couldn't believe his ears. "So if I refuse to play, we can go and you won't hurt us?", he asked, relief flooding through him. There _was_ a way out of this after all. Macavity would let them go. Electra was going to be alright. They...

"Us?", the Hidden Paw queried, "You seem to have misunderstood me, Tumblebrutus," a sadistic grin flitted across his face, "oops, didn't I make myself clear? How silly of me. What I actually meant is that _you_ could go free. You're little friend," Macavity raked his claws down Electra's side, making her howl with pain again, "would not be so lucky. After all, if you turn down my offer, I'll still be bored and have nothing to do. So I _do_ hope you accept my challenge. Otherwise Electra will have to do as entertainment and judging by all the screaming and crying torturing her would be no fun at all. Too easy, you know. But, as I said, the decision is entirely yours." He shrugged and casually licked some dried blood off one of his claws.

It had all been too good to be true! The young tom's heart sank. What answer could he give? There was no real choice, no way out of this situation. It was hopeless! Whatever he chose Electra was in horrible danger and would probably not survive. It was all his fault! How could he have been so stupid? Despair welled up inside him. Electra was lost! He had killed her. It was all his fault.

Macavity was still stood opposite him, an evil smirk on his face. In his eyes Tumblebrutus could see triumph. This was what he'd wanted all along! He was enjoying watching them both suffer. Anger flared up inside the young cat. He would _not_ give Macavity the satisfaction of seeing him give up and lose hope. He refused to let himself be beaten like that. He _could_ _not_ give up, for Electra's sake! He had to be brave and fight for her. It was her only chance, Tumblebrutus realised that now. He drew himself up to his full height and stared Macavity right in the eye defiantly. "What do you want me to do?"

An almost surprised expression crossed Macavity's face. For a brief second he looked taken aback, before his features assumed a gloating grin once again. "Go home. Go home and wait. One of my agents will find you there when we're ready." His laughter reverberated round the alley again. "Good bye, Tumblebrutus. See you soon. Oh, and good luck."

With that Macavity was gone, taking Electra with him and leaving Tumblebrutus standing alone in an empty alleyway shivering with terror and shock.


	3. Liar

Time wore on and still Tumblebrutus remained stood in the dingy alleyway. The fog had long since cleared and the sun had risen high above the city. Sounds of traffic and people and noise reached the young tom's ears but he took no notice. Those things were no longer important, to him they no longer existed.

Since Macavity had vanished with Electra he hadn't moved a muscle or so much as twitched a whisker. He had only stood there, shaking, and stared at the place he had last seen his friend. On the ground and staining the lamppost he could still make out her blood. He had watched it slowly turn brown and caked and dry out, as if by looking at it he could somehow bring back the young kitten it belonged to. It was his only remaining link to her, the only proof that she had been there. If it hadn't been for that blood, she could have been at home, safe and sound. She might never have been in that alley at all. It was tempting to convince himself that she was safe, after all, the morning's events were so implausible, much easier to believe they had never taken place. But he knew that he needed to make himself accept what had happened. If he didn't he couldn't help Electra, if he didn't she would surely die. So Tumblebrutus continued to stare at the stained metal. It was the only proof he had.

Somewhere to his right Tumblebrutus heard a scratching sound, like claws on tarmac. His ear flicked as he listened to the noise, but his gaze remained fixed on the lamppost. The noise continued. It seemed to increase in volume and intensity with every passing second, until the young tom couldn't stand it any more. Why this particular noise got through to him when all else had failed to was beyond him, but Tumblebrutus felt compelled to find the origin of that strange sound. His ears twitched again and slowly he tore his eyes away from Electra's blood and looked to his right.

It was a rat. A large, fat rat. It had clearly been trying to squeeze under a garden fence and had got stuck. The scratching sound came from it's little claws scrabbling at the pavement as it tried to push it's bulky frame through a gap far too small for it to fit through.

Tumblebrutus snapped back to his senses. What a fool he had been standing around here! His instructions had been to go home and wait there for further information. Electra needed his help and if he went to pieces he was no use to her whatsoever. He had to get a grip! What was needed was a plan of action, Tumblebrutus decided.

First things first, he needed to catch something to eat, as they were supposed to have been out hunting. If he returned with nothing it would be unrealistic. His eyes focused on the rat. A perfect candidate. With one quick swipe the young tom finished off his fat prey and pulled it out from under the fence.

That accomplished, his next task was to work out what to say to the others. Where could he say Electra had gone? He considered several possibilities, but none of them were any good. They would never believe that she had wanted to stay behind by herself to do some extra hunting practice. Electra hated being out by herself. If he said she'd had an accident and had been taken to the vet's they would all immediately rush round to find her and check she was alright. And they would wonder why Tumblebrutus had left her when she was hurt. That was the main problem. He couldn't think of a situation where he would leave Electra by herself outside the Junkyard. It just wouldn't happen. So what on earth could he say? There was no realistic reason for Electra not coming home with him.

Unless,... An idea occurred to the confused tom. What if he claimed they had fallen out and she had stormed off. He could say he had tried to follow her, but she had managed to lose him and had run off. But no, that would never work. Everyone would go out searching for her and Tumblebrutus couldn't bring himself to worry them all like that. It wasn't fair.

They had to have fallen out though, otherwise they would be together. If he could think of something so they wouldn't send out search parties and worry about Electra's safety... Suddenly he had a brainwave. What if he claimed that they had argued and Electra had run off. He could say that he had followed her to make sure she was ok and had seen her run into Bustopher Jones. If he made up that she had been crying and Bustopher had taken her with him to look after her, no one would worry about her. They would all think she was perfectly safe and would just wait for her to come home when she had calmed down. It was perfect! No one would be too worried and Bustopher visited the Junkyard so infrequently that by the time people found out he was lying, he would hopefully have saved his friend.

With this plan in mind the young tom got to his feet and, picking up the rat, set off in the direction of home. Really, he thought as he walked, it was the only reasonable excuse. He wasn't good at lying, but all he had to do was stick to his story. Macavity hadn't _said_ anything but Tumblebrutus got the feeling it wouldn't be good news for Electra if he mentioned this encounter to anyone or if anyone got suspicious. At this thought he quickened his pace, dodging across a road and almost being hit by a car he hadn't seen coming. Ignoring the near miss he pressed on. They had been due home hours ago and Jellylorum would probably have started worrying by now. The last thing he needed was people out searching for them and drawing more attention to the fact Electra was missing. He really needed to keep a low profile until someone came to fetch him or else he might struggle to get away from the Junkyard unobserved. He definitely couldn't afford to be the centre of attention.

It took him only about five minutes to reach the Junkyard gates, as the pair hadn't gone very far originally. With a dark sense of foreboding Tumblebrutus pushed the gates, which opened with a loud squeal of rusty metal grinding together. Under his breath Tumblebrutus cursed. Nice subtle entrance, nice and inconspicuous. Just what he didn't need.

Immediately a rather flustered, panicked-looking Jellylorum came rushing to meet him. She had clearly been waiting and watching out for the two young Jellicles returning home and by the looks of it had been expecting them back a while ago. She seemed in an advanced state of panic and had deep worry-lines etched into her usually calm face. Judging by the state she was in and the fact Munkustrap was following close behind her, Tumblebrutus guessed that she had already reported them both missing. He just counted himself lucky that she didn't seem to have managed to persuade Munkustrap to send out search parties yet. That would have complicated matters unnecessarily. As it was, all he had to do was convince Munkustrap and Jellylorum not to go searching for Electra. If they thought she would come back when she was ready and were calm about it, no one else was likely to start checking up on his story. He would be relatively safe.

As soon as she was within earshot Jellylorum called out: "Tumblebrutus! Where have you been? What took you so long? Where's Electra? What happened? Is she hurt? Is she ill? Did you have an accident? Why..."

Munkustrap quickly interrupted her, with a curious glance at Tumblebrutus. "Give him a chance to answer, Jell. If you keep asking him questions how is he supposed to answer any of them?", he turned to the other tom with a smile, "so what happened? Where is Electra and what took you so long?"

Tumblebrutus gulped and dropped the rat he was carrying. This was the moment he had been dreading. He would have to lie to his friends, to Electra's mother. It was horrible. He looked into their worried faces and found his mouth had gone dry. When he tried to speak no sound came out, just a croak which he quickly turned into a cough. Tumblebrutus attempted to swallow and started again. His voice sounded funny, but at least this time he managed to get words out. "S-she's... w-we... umm," he voice trailed off and he stared helplessly at Munkustrap.

Jellylorum shrieked, her voice going ridiculously high-pitched: "What's happened to Electra? Where is she?" She looked about to pass out and had to clutch at Munkustrap to steady herself.

Inwardly, Tumblebrutus groaned. Half the Jellicles currently in the Junkyard had turned to stare at them. Asparagus and Etcetera were sat closest to them on an old car tyre talking, Jennyanydots was telling Jemima off for playing on a high stack of rubbish, Rumpleteazer was polishing her pearls, Tantomile and Cassandra were sunning themselves on the car boot, Coricopat was stood behind them watching Rumpleteazer and Plato was eating a large rat. Or that's what they had been doing before Jellylorum's scream. Now they were all sat alert, staring at the three cats stood by the gate.

Asparagus was first to react. He leapt of the car tyre, closely followed by Etcetera. "What's wrong, Jell? Where's Electra?"

Tumblebrutus felt his heart sink. Now he had to explain where Electra was, not only to her mother, but also to her dad, her sister and half the junkyard. This was not how he had planned this at all. It was all going horribly wrong. Damage limitation, that's what was needed. Quickly, Tumblebrutus opened his mouth to tell the others everything was ok and not to panic.

Before he could say anything, however, Etcetera interrupted: "What's happened to Electra? Where is she? Something horrible's happened, hasn't it? Is she hurt? Wait...she's not _dead_, is she?" Etcetera let out a terrified wail and burst into hysterical tears. "She is, isn't she? Oh, Electra!" She flung herself on Munkustrap and began to sob and cry. Munkustrap looked shocked and horrified at the same time. Gingerly, he patted her head. "I'm sure she's fine, Cettie. Calm down!" This only made Etcetera sob even louder. To make matters worse Jemima joined in and began to cry as well. "Poor Electra!", she whimpered, tears flooding down her face.

"No, no, she's fine! Nothing's happened to Electra! She's fine!", Tumblebrutus cried, trying desperately to make himself heard over the racket, "Electra's not hurt and she's not dead! There's no need to panic!"

With a look of intense relief on his face Munkustrap turned quickly to Etcetera, who was still clutching at his fur and sobbing noisily. "Cettie, stop! Did you hear that? She's fine! CETTIE!", he almost had to yell, "STOP!" He shook the kitten a few times.

Etcetera hiccuped, sniffed several times and stopped crying. "She's fine?", she gulped, eyes still full of tears.

Tumblebrutus felt horrible. Etcetera was staring at him with huge, tear-filled eyes, her lip wobbling dangerously and he was about to lie to her. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, hating himself for doing so. "Yes, she's alright. Nothing's happened to her. We had a fight about something stupid and she ran off." Jellylorum looked horrified and was clearly about to interrupt so the young tom quickly continued: "It's ok, I followed her to check she didn't get hurt. I couldn't catch up with her, but I saw her run into Bustopher. He took her with him. He's looking after her and she's perfectly safe."

The look of complete and utter relief on Jellylorum and Asparagus' faces was heartbreaking. Silently, Tumblebrutus cursed Macavity. How could he be this cruel and sadistic? He must have known this would happen! It was probably all part of the fun for him. At that moment, looking at Electra's family, Tumblebrutus found himself wishing the most horrible things imaginable on Macavity. He deserved it!

Munkustrap shook his head and fixed Tumblebrutus with a stern glare. "Tumble, I know it wasn't entirely your fault, but you can't just let Electra run off like that. Her safety was your responsibility. If she hadn't met Bustopher anything could have happened. You have to be more careful and more responsible than that. It just isn't good enough. Even if you had an argument, you still should have looked after her and made sure she wasn't hurt. If your attitude doesn't improve, I'm afraid I can't let you look after the kittens any more. I'm sorry."

Feeling crushed, the young tom nodded his head. "I know. I'm so sorry," he mumbled, "it won't happen again."

He clearly looked as dejected as he felt, because Asparagus walked over to him and put a comforting arm round his shoulders. "It's alright, Tumble. No one's cross with you and no one was hurt, so no harm done. Electra will be back soon. Just be more careful next time, ok?"

Tumblebrutus nodded miserably and made his way past the others back to his den, where he let himself fall onto the pile of blankets he used as a bed. Maybe if the others thought he was sleeping they would leave him alone - he needed to be alone when Macavity came looking for him. Tumblebrutus settled down, prepared for an agonizing wait.


	4. Surrender Hope, Bow Down to Fear

Macavity's claws were painful against Electra's neck as the ginger tom dragged her through the streets of London. She had long since lost track of where they were and in what direction they were heading. To start with she had tried to memorize the way, in case an opportunity of escape presented itself, but the young queen had had no such luck and had quickly become completely disorientated and hopelessly confused, not to mention hideously lost. She had never had a particularly good sense of direction at the best of times, especially not when in agonizing pain and being held in the claws of a mass-murdering psychopath. This, coupled with the fact Electra had never been this far away from the Junkyard in her entire life, made her chances of finding the way home very slim indeed, if not non-existent.

Not only that, her ribs were becoming increasingly more painful and troublesome. As time passed Electra had expected the pain to be dulled slightly and maybe be reduced to a throbbing ache, but the opposite seemed to be the case. The further Macavity forced her to walk, the worse her ribs felt. After half an hour it had been a sharp, stabbing pain, after two hours it had begun to make breathing difficult and by now it was almost impossible to move without causing herself extreme agony.

And still, Macavity forced her mercilessly on, never stopping or giving her any time to recover. Every time she stumbled he dragged her roughly on by the fur, making tears spring to her eyes, every time she fell he yanked her up again and cuffed her round the ears, making her walk faster than ever and every time she tried to stop he clawed at her back and neck which sent her scampering onwards, yelping with pain.

By now Electra's paws were raw and bleeding, her muscles were aching and her breath was coming in uneven gasps. Exhaustion was colouring her vision, making everything around her appear grey and slightly blurry and she was unbelievably thirsty, her mouth and throat cracked and dry. Also she was very hungry, not having actually eaten anything all day. The pain from her head, ribs and other injuries was overwhelming, making the kitten want to stop, curl up into a tiny ball and cry. Only the fear of Macavity and what he might do to her if she stopped or collapsed kept Electra hurrying on through unknown streets and strange surroundings, past odd-looking buildings and through tiny, filthy alleyways.

Never before in her entire life had Electra been as terrified as she was at that precise moment. As she ran Macavity's wickedly sharp claws were constantly at her throat, digging in painfully. It would only take a tiny movement on his part and he could easily slit her throat. This thought petrified the young queen and prevented her from doing anything that might anger him or give him cause to hurt her. She was too scared to even ask for a break, although she desperately needed rest.

The grey haze clouding her vision seemed worse than ever. Electra felt both hot and cold at the same time and black spots danced in front of her eyes. Try as she might, she couldn't breathe or even swallow, the pain in her side was too much. Desperately, the kitten fought for air and tried not to panic as her vision went from grey to black. With a shuddering gasp, she stopped running. Her legs trembled and her knees gave way, causing her to collapse in a heap on the cold stone of the pavement. As she hit the floor Electra was already unconscious.

Electra was cold. That was the first thing she noticed. Not the pain or the fear, just the cold. It seemed to paralyse her where she lay, unable to move or make a sound or think. It was unbearable and within seconds of waking, she was already chilled to the bone. The young kitten had never been this uncomfortable before in her entire life.

Ever so slowly, her brain seemed to start working again. She didn't know where she was or what was happening. Nothing made any sense to the dazed kitten. Vaguely, Electra's confused mind focused on the thought of finding out the answers to these questions. She had to know what had happened to her.

As she lay there the pain and the fear gradually returned. It felt like she was having a knife driven into her side and her paws felt like they had been shredded and were on fire. Electra's mouth and throat burned and her head felt like someone was beating out a rhythm on her skull. She gasped and let out a feeble whimper as the pain overwhelmed her. Again, thinking became impossible and all Electra could do was lie helplessly curled up, hoping for the pain to go away.

It took a huge effort, but after a minute of lying there, barely conscious, she tried to open her eyes. Her lids felt heavy and swollen, making it impossible open them more than a crack and to see more than a dark, blurry view of the world around her. What she could make out did nothing to comfort the frightened little queen.

She was lying on a hard, cold concrete floor. It was cracked and broken and in places stray weeds straggled up through the splintered foundations of the ruined warehouse, for a warehouse it was. The space was far too vast to be anything else. The walls, made out of heavy concrete blocks, seemed an immensely long way away. There were no windows and only one battered, rusty metal door. This was barred by a heavy plank of wood, preventing anyone getting in or out. High above her, Electra could only just make out solid looking iron rafters and above that what must be the roof of the building, lost from view in the darkness.

Closer to hand, the kitten could see dark red stains. Some were dry, but in patches the floor was still sticky and in some places even still wet. They seemed to be everywhere, covering almost the whole floor. Judging by the stench and the colour, Electra knew only too well what had stained the concrete. Blood. Some of it fresh. The thought almost made her retch and a new terror settled over her.

In a panic and despite the agonizing pain she was in, the young queen tried to struggle to her feet. She needed to get away, to get out of here, before it was too late. Whatever had happened to the cats who had been here before her, Electra didn't want to know, but she knew she needed to escape, before a similar thing was done to her. Even without knowing the details, the kitten could imagine what had happened and was petrified. Dread gave her new strength and she managed to start clawing her way to her feet, all the while sobbing with pain and fear.

She hadn't even made it halfway up, however, when she was yanked roughly to a halt. Dismay filled the young kitten's heart as looking down she saw her paws were manacled together and attached to the nearest wall by long, thick chains. Until that point, she had been too distracted by other sensations to notice the chains, but now she had seen them, Electra realised they were painfully tight around her wrists and ankles, chaffing away the skin every time she moved, leaving raw, red wounds on her arms and legs.

Crying out in misery, frustration and anguish the little queen let herself sink back onto the cold concrete, as tears streamed down her face. It was no use. She was trapped here with no way of escape.

From behind her, just out of her line of sight, Electra heard a soft giggle. "It's awake!", a quite, female voice hissed. The sound of claws tapping on concrete was audible and seconds later a cat strolled into view. It was a tabby queen, relatively average height and build, with a slightly manic grin on her face. She walked twice round Electra, then suddenly appeared inches from the frightened kitten. The queen took a long, deep sniff at Electra's fur, letting out another giggle. "It's afraid."

Electra flinched and cowered away from her whimpering. She had assumed she was alone in the abandoned warehouse and seeing the other queen made her wish she was. For some strange, inexplicable reason the tabby frightened her. There was something unnerving about her face, a bizarre normality, that made her instantly forgettable like some sort of shadow.

"Laisse-la tranquille. Tu ne vois pas qu'elle a peur?", a second voice, this one belonging to a tom, drawled from out of the shadows behind her, dripping with sarcasm. "Le pauvre chaton." He let out a low, soft laugh and Electra heard him coming closer until he was stood right behind her. "Jolie, n'est-ce pas?" She could feel his breath tickling the back of her neck and felt the urge to pull away from him, but was paralysed with fright. A paw, claws out slightly ran down her side, stroking her fur and she felt the tom behind her move closer, until she could feel his muscular body pressed against her. His tongue flicked out and licked the side of her face as his paws continued to roughly stroke her fur. Electra shuddered and let out a squeak of disgust and terror, trying to squirm away from him. With an angry growl, the tom pulled her back against him and continued running his paws over her.

"Aurélien!" A dark grey Persian queen sprung into Electra's line of vision, claws out, teeth bared. The kitten let out a shriek of terror and backed away, only to bump into her tormentor and be sent reeling forwards again with a shove towards the angry Persian. "Enough!" The queen slashed her claws across Electra's face leaving deep cuts running from her left ear down to her chin. Electra let out a howl of pain and clutched at her face while the french tom merely snorted with laughter and moved away to snuggle against the angry queen.

"Pas mal," he commented examining the cuts across the kittens face with a disinterested gaze. At that the grey queen laughed and lost the furious facial expression, turning away from Electra, as if she was no longer of any importance. The pair moved away and settled down in a corner, curled up together watching the kitten.

When she had been hit, Electra had fallen to the floor and there she stayed, not daring to move. If she had been scared when she woke up, it was nothing in comparison to how she felt now. She was chained up and outnumbered by hostile cats, all of which seemed determined to terrify or hurt her. Not for the last time, the young queen wished she was safe at home and tears began to roll down her cheeks again as she thought of her family and friends. They would all be missing her by now, probably panicking about what had happened to her. Her mum and sister would be getting hysterical, Pounci would be sat in a corner pretending not to care, but really worrying just as much as the others and her dad would be trying to calm them all down and organize a search. She could picture them all perfectly and in her mind's eye could see exactly how they would react. Jem would be crying, Vicky would be clutching at Plato for support, while trying to appear grown-up and confident and Plato himself would be overwhelmed and unsure as to what to do. Tumble was the sensible one, he'd be sorting out all the younger Jellicles and making sure they stayed out of the adults' way while the search got under way. It was all that time he'd spent with her father and Skimbleshanks that had made him so sensible. Despite herself Electra felt the corners of her mouth twitch as she thought about him. Tumble would surely come and rescue her. He'd been there when she was kidnapped, he'd think of a way to get her back. Of course he would.

Electra's thoughts were rudely interrupted by a giggle right in her ear. The tabby queen was bent over her, so her muzzle was almost touching Electra's ears, giggling madly. "So, little princess, how do you like our palace?" She gestured grandly around the falling-down, blood-stained warehouse. "Not good enough for you? Shame. I think it's rather nice here." She sniggered to herself again and grabbed Electra by the fur, yanking the kitten roughly to her feet. The tabby was stronger than she looked and the sudden jerk made Electra's wounds split open and start to bleed again. The kitten whimpered. "Oops, silly me," the older queen gasped in mock horror, "did I hurt the poor little princess? How terrible of me. There, there. Don't cry." She raked her claws across Electra's face in a horrible parody of wiping away tears.

From somewhere behind her out of sight, the young queen heard laughter. It sounded like at least several more cats. Terrified by the thought of yet more of them, Electra tried to pull away from the tabby, but found she couldn't move. The queen was holding onto her arms too tightly, her claws digging painfully into the skin and the chains allowed her no freedom of movement now she was on her feet. Electra felt panic choking her and gulped down yet more sobs.

"Let me introduce you to the team, little princess," the nasty queen hissed and as she did so, she pulled Electra roughly round to face the wall she had had her back to before, twisting her arms behind her causing one of Electra's shoulders to let out a sickening crack. The young queen shrieked and tried to free her arm, only managing to cause herself more pain. After a second she stopped struggling and hung limply in her captor's grip, staring at the wall. Four toms were lounging against it, all smirking at her. One of them gave the kitten a sarcastic little wave and broke into a fit of laughter. "See them? That's the rest of the team. Black and white one, he's Rico, he's psychotic. Then there's Aidan, the white and orange and the Abyssinian is Tocho, they're fighters, insanely strong." She giggled and buried her nose in Electra's fur again making the kitten shudder. "The white bastard is Deimos. Sadistic maniac, he is. He's in charge of torture." The tabby seemed to find this immensely funny and doubled over clutching at her side, laughing. It took her a few minutes to regain control and when she did, she gasped: "You'll be getting to know him a lot better later.", before dissolving into hysterical laughter again.

Electra studied the four toms, trembling with fear. The black and white one was playing with a wickedly sharp knife, tossing it in the air and catching it in his teeth. He didn't seem to be taking any notice of her at all. The Abyssinian was eyeing her up and down with the kind of look you might give something particularly unpleasant you had just stepped in and the white and orange tom was still staring at her laughing. It was the white tom that frightened her most of all. His eyes were electric blue and his unblinking gaze met her's, his eyes seeming to bore their way into her very soul. Ever so slowly, he tipped his head on one side, never breaking eye contact, his face completely expressionless. Electra felt cold shivers running down her spine and a sense of foreboding and dread settled over her. Quickly she looked away from him again and down at her blood-covered paws.

The tabby queen noticed and pounced on her, crying: "Well, say hello then! What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?". She grabbed Electra's jaw in her claws and forced her head up again. "Downright rude, that's what I call it. We go to all the trouble of waiting here with you and you won't even say a simple hello. Kittens these days." She tutted and shook her head, an exaggeratedly disapproving look on her face. "Deimos really needs to teach you some manners, doesn't he." A small snigger escaped her lips.

Lazily, the orange and white tom, Aidan, got to his feet. "I'll do it. You know Deimos won't. The boss hasn't told him to." He advanced menacingly on Electra who shrank back. "What d'you think? Beat her up a bit?" With a casual shrug he ran his paw down her cheek. "Seems almost a shame."

"Almost," the tabby queen giggled. She reached her paws round the kitten to get a firm hold on her. "Go ahead, I've got her. She can't escape." And again, the queen began to laugh.

"Oh, shut up, Lyssa, will you," the tom snapped, "or I swear I'll hit you instead." His words had the desired effect and the tabby fell silent as Aidan paced round Electra, considering her as if deciding where to start.

"Laissez-moi tenir le chaton," a voice called suddenly and a blue-grey tom appeared from nowhere. Electra recognized him as the french tom who had spoken to her earlier and shuddered, flinching away from him as he shoved the tabby queen roughly out of the way and grabbed hold of her. The kitten let out a noisy sob, earning herself a slap from the Chartreux. "Silence!", he snarled, before nodding to his college.

With careful consideration Aidan pulled back his fist, claws out and punched it into Electra's side. The punch was aimed directly at the kitten's already damaged ribs and the orange and white tom's aim was perfect. His fist hit with a huge amount of force, smashing all the air out of her lungs and splintering her ribs. Electra let out a choking gasp and crumpled against the grey tom holding her. She couldn't catch her breath, agony was radiating from her side into every single part of her body, she couldn't move, she couldn't even scream or cry. The kitten couldn't do anything apart from lean against Aurélien fighting for breath.

As she finally managed to get some air into her lungs, the french tom pulled her up again and held her towards his friend. Again, choosing his target carefully Aidan smashed his fist into her face, using his claws to scratch at the already open wounds as he did so. Electra screamed and tried to pull away as blood began to pour down her face from her now presumably broken nose. She didn't get very far, not even managing to take a single step and all the screaming achieved was to fill her mouth with blood, making her choke and gag. Both toms laughed at her feeble escape attempt and the grey pounded her on the back to stop her from choking, a little too hard leaving large, angry bruises already forming under her skin.

"Don't damage her too much, will you," the Persian queen purred, stalking up next to the trio, "I don't think the boss would be very pleased with you if you...," she paused delicately, "...broke her." With an evil grin she walked on past them and settled herself next to the white tom who was still staring at Electra head on one side, not blinking. Next to them the fawn-coloured Abyssinian was still looking at the kitten with disgust, Rico was still uninterested and the tabby queen, Lyssa, was bouncing up and down, giggling and cheering.

Aidan laughed and smirked at the dark grey queen. "Don't worry, Dylana, we won't." He turned back to Electra and rammed his fist into her stomach, making her double over and retch. Immediately she was yanked upright again and the orange and white tom aimed another punch at her face, causing more blood to spurt from her nose and snapping her head backwards painfully.

"La jambe?", the Chartreux tom asked. He stamped painfully on the back of her knee, knocking the kitten to the ground and placed his paw on her ankle, holding her leg in place. Only too late did Electra realise what they were planning to do, leaving her no time to try and struggle. Grinning, the second tom raised his paw and stamped it down on her leg putting all his weight behind it. The young queen screamed in agony as there was an audible crunching, sickening, squelching crack.

Lyssa cheered. "Hit her again, hit her again!", she exclaimed and bounded over to them, roughly pulling Electra's fur and pinching her ears before taking another long sniff of her fur. "Aww, it's frightened!", she jeered and poked Electra in the injured side, making her squirm and cry out.

"That will do!", a dangerously soft voice hissed from the doorway.

Immediately, all seven henchcats fell silent and turned to face the door. Even the black and white tom stopped playing with his knife to grin broadly. The grey-blue tom released Electra and stood up and her other two tormentors quickly stepped away from her. All seven bowed their heads slightly.

Electra glanced up from where she was lying on the floor. Through a haze of pain she could just make out the figure of a tall, orange tom making his way towards her, his long claws clattering on the concrete floor. Electra was filled with terror. Macavity! What if he was here to finish her off? Electra tried to shrink back, to hide from him and curled herself into a tiny, protective ball.

Inches from the terrified kitten Macavity stopped. He took no notice of her whatsoever, but instead addressed the henchcats: "Deimos, Aurélien, Dylana, Tocho, Aidan, Rico – with me. Lyssa, stay here and guard the prisoner." With that he turned on his heel and strode out of the warehouse without a backwards glance.

The henchcats glanced at each other, before six of them made their way slowly after Macavity. The young queen watched them all go through swollen, battered eyelids, wishing she could follow them out of the warehouse to freedom. It was so temptingly close, as the warehouse door opened, giving her a tiny glimpse of the world outside.

As the door banged shut again, Electra's hopes faded away to despair. She was still trapped with no chance of escape. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, drawing damp lines in the drying blood staining her fur.

The tabby queen was still stood facing the door. Ever so slowly she turned to look at Electra, an insane smile playing about her lips. "It's just you and me now, princess," she hissed. Then she burst out laughing. Her laughter was mad and high-pitched and terrifying. It reverberated and echoed around the empty warehouse growing in volume until it drowned out every other sound and made Electra's ear ring.


	5. That's the Plan

A soft scraping, tapping noise filled the small office on one of the upper floors of an abandoned warehouse in one of London's less reputable areas. It vaguely resembled fingernails being scratched over a blackboard and was enough to make the henchcats' hair stand on end. It was the sound of their boss, Macavity, the Napoleon of Crime, deep in though. Well, strictly speaking it was the sound of Macavity drumming and scraping his claws on his desk, but it was a habit he had developed over the years for when he was concentrating.

None of his six assembled henchcats moved a muscle. Long years in Macavity's service had taught them not to interrupt him when he was in the middle of planning something. It usually resulted in something rather nasty happening to whoever caused the disturbance and it was a risk not one of them was willing to take.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the large, ginger tom looked up at them, his yellow eyes surveying the group to check they were all paying attention. When he saw nothing was amiss, the Hidden Paw gave a satisfied nod, stood up from his desk and began to pace up and down the length of his office. Occasionally he stopped briefly to examine something, a map or a stack of papers, but never once looked up at his subordinates. Clearly he wasn't ready to share his plans with them just yet.

The sun burned down on the warehouse's tin roof, turning it into a blazing hot furnace inside. It was becoming increasingly hotter and more uncomfortable by the minute and the six assembled cats were beginning to find it impossible to stand still. They were stood with their backs to the window, so the direct sunlight shining through it was causing them extreme discomfort in addition to the already blistering heat. Especially poor Dylana, the dark grey Persian queen, was struggling. With her long, thick fur the heat was affecting her more than the rest. She looked on the verge of passing out. Next to her, her mate Aurélien kept throwing her worried glances and when their boss had his back turned he inched closer to her, enabling her to lean her weight on him. The Chartreux tom watched Macavity nervously, but he showed no signs of having noticed them so eventually the henchcat relaxed slightly. He had been taking a huge risk, moving without being given permission as the Hidden Paw did not take kindly to being disobeyed and had specifically ordered them to stand still. If he was caught, the grey-blue tom reflected, there would be something particularly nasty in store for him, but had Dylana fallen, even if she had fainted, she would have been punished harshly and he couldn't let that happen.

Time wore on and still Macavity paced and still he paid his henchcats no attention whatsoever. Midday had been and gone a long time ago and evening was drawing rapidly closer. The heat had abated slightly as the sun started to set, but it continued to be too hot for comfort. Hunger was also starting to gnaw at Macavity's employees and the thirst had long since become nigh on unbearable. Yet still they stayed rooted to the spot, not daring to speak or move for fear of enraging their temperamental boss.

Just as the moon started to come up in the sky outside the window, Macavity's head snapped up, his yellow eyes burning into the henchcats like a search beacon, seeming to read their thoughts and penetrate to the very depths of their souls. Slowly, he walked forwards through the moonlit office until he was stood inches from them, his eyes burning with a forceful, powerful, almost electric energy. "I have jobs for you," he hissed, speaking for the first time since they had left the warehouse with the kitten, his voice full of barely contained excitement and enthusiasm.

Glaring at each of them in turn the Napoleon of Crime resumed his pacing, this time up and down in front of his henchcats. He whipped round to face a large black and white tom with a long scar down his left cheek. "Rico. I want you to take this map. There are certain points marked on it. I want you to set explosives at all of these points. Do not light the fuses, it's not time yet. Understood?"

The tom gave him a big, stupid grin. "Kaboom!", he exclaimed and his face lighting up with delight.

Impatiently Macavity let out a hiss of frustration. "No, Rico, not yet. Later." His eyes blazed as he whirled round to face one of his other henchcats. "Deimos, make sure Rico has understood what he's supposed to do. I don't want him blowing up half of London before I tell him to!" The ginger tom let out a low chuckle at this and grinned excitedly. His plan was perfect! If everything went as he wanted it to this would make a very entertaining game indeed.

The henchcats exchanged glances. They had never seen their boss this excited before and they had never seen him actually grin like a kitten at Christmas in their entire lives. It was uncharacteristic and probably didn't mean anything good for the poor kitten they had locked up in the old warehouse. Chances were this game was going to be quite a spectacle.

"Also when Rico is finished I have another job for him," Macavity's silky voice interrupted their thoughts, "in the cellars he will find a lot of old timber. I want him to carve it into giant chess pieces for me. Make sure he gets it right, I'll need those later. Each of the white pieces should have a name on it. You'll find a list of which name to put on which piece with the wood. Deimos, I'm holding you responsible if Rico goes berserk and gets it wrong. You explain to him what needs doing." The white tom nodded his head, as the Hidden Paw once again began to stroll up and down the row of henchcats.

His tail flicked slightly from side to side as he walked and his whole body language was one of impatience and anticipation. "Dylana." The yellow eyes swivelled to fix on the queen in question. "Your job is to watch the Jellicles. If any of them seem to get the slightest whiff of what's going on I want to know about it. If any of them leave the Junkyard I want to know about it and if that little fool Tumblebrutus seems to have told anyone I want you to report to me immediately." He flexed his claws angrily, scratching deep gouge marks into the concrete of the floor at the mention of his former tribe.

The Persian queen nodded in agreement. "Yes, sir. One question though. What about Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer?" A look of disgust briefly crossed her face as she mentioned the two burglars. "Do I report back if they leave?"

The orange tom considered for a moment. "Yes, it's better to be on the safe side." With that he ignored Dylana completely and turned his attention to the next henchcat, a large fawn-coloured Abyssinian tom. "Tocho, I want you to fetch this list of supplies. After that I want you to get to the place we discussed earlier. Once there, there are certain things that need setting up. You know what to do."

Returning to his desk Macavity rifled through a large stack of papers until he found the one he wanted. With it in his paw he returned to the assembled henchcats. "Aidan, take this. I want you to find the cats on this list. Tell them I want to talk to them and that I have a job for them. Then I want you to return here and wait for my signal. When I give the word you will fetch Tumblebrutus and take him to the right place."

The Hidden Paw's face was alight with malice and excitement as he stalked round the henchcats, his eyes glowing like lanterns in the pale moonlight, his claws clicking softly on the floor as he walked. "Deimos, once you have done a little job for me here you will go to the warehouse and take over from Lyssa guarding the kitten. I want you to...", he paused delicately, "...work your magic on her. Not too much. We don't want her to be incapable of enjoying the game now, do we?" He laughed quietly, a noise that resembled two sheets of rusty metal rubbing together. "And send Lyssa back here. I have work for her." With an evil smile he turned his back on the henchcats and walked back towards his desk. "That will be all."

Timidly, barely daring to ask, Aurélien whispered: "Et moi?" The Chartreux tom was shaking slightly where he stood. He could only think of one reason Macavity hadn't given him anything to do and it was not good.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Macavity's eye swivelled to fix on the unfortunate henchcat. "You disobeyed my order," he hissed, his voice dangerously silky and quiet, "I told you to stand still and you moved. Now you must pay the price." The yellow eyes flicked to focus on Deimos. "See to it," Macavity snarled, his lips curling back in disgust.

Deimos nodded his head slightly and turned to look at his friend and colleague. His blue eyes were shining but his face was completely blank and expressionless. He tipped his head to one side, studying Aurélien carefully. Then the pure white tom motioned towards the door.

As if in a daze the french tom followed him, walking slowly an expression of dread and fear on his face. His legs were stiff and didn't seem to want to obey his commands and he was finding it hard to breathe. It felt like there was a lead weight on his shoulders and the whole room seemed to be spinning. He had seen enough of Deimos' handiwork to be terrified of him. And even though he was a friend, he knew the white tom took pride in his work and would not make an exception for him. He would be a practice run for what his colleague was about to do to the kitten. As he stumbled out the office, he heard the door fall shut behind him with an ominous and very final-sounding snap.

Soon afterwards the remaining four henchcats left the office and made their way slowly back downstairs to the main warehouse area. They all walked haltingly, partly due to the darkness as there were no windows in this part of the building, and partly down to concern for their friend. Whenever Macavity ordered Deimos to do something like this, the other henchcats found themselves trembling with terror on their colleague's behalf. Deimos was renown for being the best torturer in the world. His name alone struck fear into the hearts of the bravest of cats and his reputation seemed to precede him wherever he went, causing cats to flee in fright whenever he showed up.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs and were finally out of earshot of their boss, Dylana burst into tears. "How could he? What did Aurélien do wrong? He was only helping me! It's all my fault." She collapsed in a heap on the floor sobbing, although was still somehow able to avoid all the patches of dirt and keep her fur clean.

The three toms stood staring at her in horror. They had never seen Dylana cry and had absolutely no idea what to do. Tocho and Aidan exchanged glances before the latter inched slowly closer to the crying queen looking like he thought she might jump up and bite him any second. Gingerly, he stretched out a paw and awkwardly patted her on the head, before darting back out of harm's way. Dylana ignored him and continued crying noisily.

Rico, a fearful expression on his face, walked closer and held out a fish to her. "Fish?", he suggested quietly.

"No, I don't want a fish!", Dylana hit the ground with her paw and turned away from the black and white tom, tears streaming down her face.

"Kaboom?", Rico asked even more quietly.

"GO AWAY RICO!", the Persian queen shrieked causing said tom to flee and hide behind Aidan, "I don't want a fish, I don't want to blow anything up and I don't want to be anywhere near you!" Her sobs increased in volume until she was practically hysterical.

Tocho advanced carfully on her and pulled her to her feet, holding her in a bone-crushing hug. "It's alright, Dylana. He'll be fine. You know Deimos won't do anything fatal." This seemed to be precisely the wrong thing to say as Dylana let out an ear-splitting wail and collapsed against him, dissolving into floods of tears, mouth open in a silent shriek.

At that moment they heard a scream, an almost inhuman sounding scream of complete and utter agony, that chilled them all to the bone. Dylana shuddered and fainted.


	6. Time

Waiting can be torturous. Waiting for something inevitable, something you're dreading is even worse. Every second seems to drag, every minute feels like a lifetime.

The old broken clock with it's cracked face and wonky hands ticked slowly away in the corner of Tumblebrutus' den, counting out the seconds until someone came for him. Each second stretched to an eternity, each tick seemed to come slower than the one before.

The brown and white tom lay huddled in his den, eyes screwed shut trying to ignore the noise of the kittens playing outside. He could hear Etcetera's high-pitched squeals, Jemima's giggling, Victoria calling to the younger kittens to be careful and Pouncival joking around and being silly as usual. But one voice was missing.

It hadn't really sunk in before. He had heard what Macavity had said but not really understood or fully comprehended what it meant. Now he did. The emptiness where Electra should be, the silence when she should be laughing and joking with the other kittens were so very real. What had before been impossible for him to take in had now hit home. Electra was gone and unless he could somehow achieve the impossible and rescue her she was not coming back.

The young tom let out an agonized moan and buried his head in the blankets of his bed, trying to block out every sound coming from outside. He couldn't bear he thought of the other Jellicles having fun and enjoying themselves when Electra was trapped, alone and afraid, completely at the mercy of that sadistic monster.

Shuddering Tumblebrutus buried his head even deeper in the pile of blankets but unlike the sounds of laughter and happiness from outside it was impossible to block out the thoughts that were chasing round his head like fallen leaves in a thunder storm. Images of his friend covered in blood, alone, crying, frightened flashed in front of his mind's eye, making the tom want desperately to do something, anything to save her from what she was facing. What if she was injured? Worse, what if she thought he'd abandoned her? Tumblebrutus whimpered softly into the blankets. Electra, his friend, was being hurt and frightened, maybe even something much worse, that he didn't dare to think about and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it.

A noise from the entrance to his den made the young Jellicle jump. Whirling round to face the doorway Tumblebrutus tried to flatten his untidy fur and adopt a casual facial expression. The last thing he needed was someone getting the idea there may be something wrong and that was precisely the impression he was likely to create, fur sticking up all over the place from rolling around in bed, eyes slightly red and an agonized look on his face. He needed to try and look as normal as possible. If the other Jellicles suspected anything...

Squinting slightly against the bright light flooding in through the open door, the tom tried to see who it was that had come in. It was too tall to be one of the kittens, but why would one of the older Jellicles be visiting him? As his eyes adjusted to the light, Tumblebrutus managed to make out two distinct silhouettes, one slightly smaller than the other and his heart plummeted. It was the last two people he wanted to be anywhere near right now and if they had come to find him, there was only one logical explanation. They knew something was wrong.

Before either of them could say anything Tumblebrutus was on his feet and hurrying past them out into the bright sunlight. As he pushed past the young cat mumbled something about needing to help Jellylorum with something, avoiding their gaze as best he could. It might not be too late, if he could get away from them now they might just think he was being a bit odd because of the made-up fight with Electra and might not think anything more of it. As fast as his paws could carry him and without a backwards glance the young Jellicle dashed across the Junkyard towards Jellylorum's den.

Behind him Coricopat and Tantomile turned to look at each other. Neither of them needed to speak, they both knew what the other was thinking – something was wrong, terribly wrong. As one they turned away from the now empty den and made their way in search of Munkustrap.

In a blind panic, Tumblebrutus rushed into Jellylorum and Asparagus' den, almost tripping over his own feet in his hurry to get inside and shut the door with a loud snap. His breath was coming in uneven gasps and his fur was still dishevelled and untidy looking. In short he looked a complete mess.

Jellylorum who had been bending over a large plate on the upturned bucket that served as a table jumped and looked up. When she saw the young tom a concerned frown appeared on her face and she moved towards him. "Tumble, are you alright?", the older Jellicle asked.

On reflection, Tumblebrutus thought, this was probably not the best idea he'd ever had. Rushing into someone's den, fur sticking out all over the place, breathing hard and looking quite frankly rather panicky was not really the best way of lying low and not attracting any attention or letting the other cats know there was something wrong. Judging by her facial expression Jellylorum was now worrying about him - exactly what he had been trying to avoid. Hastily, the young tom arranged his features into a rather unconvincing grin. "Hi, Jelly. I'm fine. Sorry for bursting in on you like that I was just..." His mind went blank. He couldn't think of any reason why he would have wanted to come bursting into her den when she was in the middle of doing her chores. "Ummm..."

The pale queen gently pulled him towards the middle of the den and pushed him down onto Pouncival's vacant chair. "It's about this fight with Electra, isn't it?", she asked kindly, "here, have some fish cakes and tell me all about it." She noticed the horrified expression on his face and misinterpreted it entirely. "It's alright, I won't be cross with you."

Tumblebrutus swallowed hard. He hadn't been expecting this. In hindsight that was probably another thing he should have done differently. Jellylorum, Electra's mother, was not he best person to talk to right now. He'd just have to make something up about the row he and Electra hadn't had. Racking his brain, the brown and white tom helped himself to a fish cake and to a large bite, trying to buy himself some time.

After several seconds of chewing in silence with Jellylorum watching him anxiously Tumblebrutus figured he couldn't drag it out any longer. Swallowing his mouthful of food he began to talk, hoping he could make up a convincing enough story: "We were going hunting...", he paused to think of what to say next and Jellylorum nodded encouragingly, resting her paw on his shoulder. "We were waiting for Cettie and I made a comment about her always being late and how annoying it was." He stopped briefly and arranged his face into what he hoped was a self-loathing glare. "I should have known better. You know how much Electra loves Cettie and how protective she is of her. I'm her friend, I should have known better." He stopped and took a shuddering gasp, not even having to fake the tears that sprang to his eyes.

The older Jellicle reached out to him and gently pulled him closer to her, wrapping her arms around his thin frame. "Did she get cross and run off?" When the young tom nodded miserably, Jellylorum sighed slightly. "Tumblebrutus, look at me." When he didn't respond she carefully pulled his chin up with one paw, until he was forced to look her in the eye. "I don't blame you for what happened. Everyone fights with their friends occasionally. Even Jenny and I fall out sometimes and we've know each other all our lives, it's perfectly normal, a fact of life."

"I know that but...", Tumblebrutus broke of with a shrug and looked back down at his paws.

Jellylorum sighed again. She loved the young Jellicle like a second son and hated to see him this upset. "Tumble, you did the right thing, ok? When she ran off you followed her and made sure she was safe. There was nothing else you could have done. That's why I let her go hunting with you in the first place, because I know you'll always take good care of her and you're very responsible. What happened wasn't your fault and there was no harm done anyway. She'll be home again soon enough and will probably have forgotten all about it, you'll see."

Tumblebrutus froze, horror-stricken. _Always take good care of her_? _Very responsible_? His stomach began to churn and he felt physically like he was about to throw up. Jellylorum _trusted _him! She trusted him with her daughter's safety and what had he done? Let her down, let Electra down and on top of that he had lied to everyone about it. A lump formed in his throat making talking almost impossible. "Thanks, Jelly," he croaked, voice hoarse and strained, "I'd better be going now. Need to help Pouncival with something."

Almost blindly he groped his way to the door and pulled it open. "Thanks again," the tom managed to choke out before running blindly across the Junkyard away from the rest of the tribe, not waiting for a response from the stunned Jellylorum.

He ran for several minutes until the main clearing had faded into the distance and the sounds of the happy Jellicles were no longer audible. Only then did Tumblebrutus throw himself down onto a large cardboard box, panting heavily. He needed to get a grip. This was not a good state of mind to be in and it wouldn't help anyone, he reminded himself for the thousandth time. Calm down, take a deep breath and try to...

"Good morning," said a silky voice right in his ear.

With a slightly girly scream the young tom regretted deeply the moment he'd uttered it, he leapt of the box, heart pounding loudly enough to surely be heard several miles away. "Who are you? What are you doing here?", his voice came out still sounding slightly too shrill and Tumblebrutus cursed himself for it.

In front of him was a white tom with dark orange patches covering his body. His eyes were a startling shade of blue and had a malicious glint in them and his mouth was curled into an unpleasant smile, more resembling a smirk than anything. When he spoke, he revealed a set of long, glittering white fangs. "Who I am is of no importance to you. You know why I'm here. Come with me."

The young Jellicle's heart skipped a beat. This was it. This must be Macavity's henchcat, come to take him to... wherever he was supposed to be going. With a sudden stab of panic Tumblebrutus realised he didn't even know where he was being taken, let alone what he would need to do when he got there. All of a sudden he felt very unprepared and vulnerable. How come he hadn't thought about this before? He should have tried to work out what would be required of him and prepared for it. He should have practised... something, but what? Maybe fighting, or hunting? The young tom shook his head. He doubted that would be it. Surely Macavity wouldn't find that entertaining. He must see cats fighting every day. No, it would be something more sadistic and more unusual. Who knows what sort of sick game a mind like Macavity's could come up with? It was most likely to be...

"I haven't got all day, you know," a snide voice drawled nastily, inches from Tumblebrutus's ear. The orange and white tom had come several steps closer and straightened up to his full height, so he towered above the young Jellicle. He was no longer grinning, but his teeth were bared in a ferocious snarl and his eyes were glinting with suppressed fury. The fur along his back was standing on end, making him appear even larger and more intimidating than he already was.

Quickly the brown and white tom scrambled to his feet. "I'm coming." Even in his own ears his voice sounded a tiny bit wobbly and childish and he cursed himself for it. "Lead the way." This time he made an effort to sound less nervous and was rather pleased with the result, as he managed to sound almost confident and definitely not afraid.

It still didn't seem to impress Macavity's henchcat. With a look of utter disdain, the larger tom grabbed Tumblebrutus roughly by the collar and began dragging him away from the Junkyard and further into the heart of London.

Unnoticed by both of them, a tin can slipped off the pile of rubbish behind where they had just been stood and bounced to the floor crashing noisily with each bounce and if they had happened to hear it and look over their shoulders they would have seen the figure of a little, pale kitten scrambling away over the rubbish back towards the Junkyard.

Munkustrap was balanced on a large wooden beam supported by two massive stacks of assorted junk about twenty feet off the ground. He was surveying the surrounding area, making sure nothing was amiss but for now at least the Jellicles all seemed fine. From his vantage point, Munkustrap could see all of them going about their business. The kittens were playing tag, sprinting around the clearing laughing and shouting. Briefly, Munkustrap's gaze lingered on Jemima as she stumbled running away from Pouncival and nearly fell, but she regained her balance again and ran on still laughing, as her parent relaxed slightly. His eyes flicked briefly over Admetus, who was sunning himself on the car boot, Jellylorum and Jennyanydots, who were talking quietly in a corner busy with some knitting, Demeter, Bombalurina, Alonzo and Asparagus, who seemed to be deep in some earnest discussion and Mistoffelees, who seemed to be asleep. Nothing the matter there.

As he turned his head to watch Etcetera as she ran further away from the main clearing than he liked, Munkustrap caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking down, he was able to make out the shapes of Coricopat and Tantomile, as they climbed gracefully towards him, a puzzled frown on both their faces. They seemed troubled by something and that was enough to get Munkustrap's attention and to worry him slightly at the same time. They were unlikely to come looking for him unless they suspected there was something seriously wrong. One last brief glance assured him that Jellylorum had noticed her daughter running off and gone to get her back, and he turned to face the twins, waiting for them to reach him.

"It's Tumblebrutus," Coricopat began as soon as the pair reached the silver tabby.

"We think there's something wrong," Tantomile continued.

"The story about fighting with Electra..."

"...doesn't ring true. He's lying about something."

"When we tried to talk to him he avoided us."

"Why would he do that if he had nothing to hide?"

"You could tell something was wrong..."

"...the moment he got back."

"He wasn't annoyed at all." 

"If they'd had a fight, you'd expect him to be a little angry at least."

"And he wasn't. He was mainly worried and frightened."

"It doesn't make sense if his story's true."

"Why would he be frightened?"

The silver tabby sighed and rubbed his eyes. As much as he liked and respected both twin, they did frequently give him a headache when they talked over each other and finished each other's sentences. Sometimes it could get rather hard to follow and they could really make his head spin if they started talking too fast. Munkustrap briefly screwed his eyes shut in concentration, before opening them and asking: "Could he have been worried that we'd be angry with him? Maybe he just..." 

Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Tantomile shaking her head. "He wasn't just worried. He was afraid of something. Really afraid."

"And he felt bad about something, too. The feeling got stronger when he told you about the 'fight'," Coricopat added.

"So you think he was lying to us? But why would he. Do you think he may be in danger?"

"That's what we don't understand. We tried to ask him but he..." Both twins suddenly froze mid sentence and turned as one to look across the Junkyard. Munkustrap followed their gaze and saw to his horror that Etcetera was sprinting across the clearing towards them. The kitten's fur was untidy, a bloody scratch traced it's way across her cheek, she was panting hard and her eyes were wild and scared. In her hurry she was practically tripping over her own paws and frequently stumbled as she twisted round to look over her shoulder. Several of the other Jellicles had also noticed her and made their way towards her, trying to comfort her. Etcetera ignored them. She even brushed past her friends who had stopped playing and run over to her, as she continued towards the beam Munkustrap and the twins were stood on.

Without hesitation, the three Jellicles scrambled down and hurried to meet Etcetera. All of them were overcome with a sudden sense of dread as they got closer to her. From the look in her eyes, they could tell this wasn't just Cettie overreacting about something silly again. This time something actually was wrong.

"It's Tumblebrutus," Etcetera wailed skidding to a halt in front of Munkustrap and grabbing hold of him as if for support. "He's... he's..." She broke off unable to continue, a sob welling up in her throat.

Munkustrap, Coricopat and Tantomile all stared at her, frozen in horror. Each of them was vividly remembering the conversation they had just had. "What, Cettie? What's happened to him?" The silver tabby prised the sobbing kitten off himself and held her at arm's length trying to peer into her face. "Cettie, what is it?" He gave her a slight shake, as if to bring her back to her senses.

The kitten turned her large, tear-filled eyes to look up at him and whimpered, so quietly Munkustrap almost missed it: "He's been kidnapped!"


End file.
